The present invention relates to novel compounds, pharmaceutical compositions containing said compounds and their use in the treatment of various CNS disorders.
Dementia exists in several forms including static dementia, Alzheimer""s-type dementia, senile dementia, presenile dementia and progressive dementia. One of the common pathological features of several types of dementia is the lack of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. This has led to the development of acetylcholine esterase inhibitors for use in the treatment of dementias such as the compound tacrine. A summary of the different approaches to and progress made in the treatment of Alzheimer""s Disease may be found in Drugs of the Future (1995) 20(11): 1145-1162.
Recently, compounds that in addition to inhibiting acetylcholine esterase, possess inhibitory activity against monoamine oxidase type A (MAO-A) have been developed. The perceived benefit of having the anti-MAO-A activity is stated to be an anti-depressant effect (European Patent Publication Nos. 614,888 and 664,291).
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,387,133, 5,453,446, 5,457,133 and 5,519,061 all disclose that the compound (R)-N-propargyl-1-aminoindan, a highly selective monoamine oxidase type B (MAO-B) inhibitor is effective in the treatment of dementias of the Alzheimer type and memory disorders. There is no indication given therein that the compound might have acetylcholine esterase inhibitory activity. Furthermore, the compound is only very weakly active as a MAO-A inhibitor.
PCT International Publication No. WO95/18617 discloses various aminoindan derivatives that are active in a variety of CNS disorders including dementias of the Alzheimer type. There is no indication given therein that any of the compounds disclosed might have acetylcholine esterase inhibitory activity.
The present invention relates to compounds of formula I 
wherein when a is 0; b is 1 or 2; when a is 1, b is 1; m is from 0 to 3; X is C or S; Y is halogeno; R1 is hydrogen or C1-4 alkyl; R2 is hydrogen, C1-4 alkyl or optionally substituted propargyl; and R3 and R4 are each independently hydrogen, C1-8 alkyl, C6-12 aryl, C6-12 aralkyl or C6-12 cycloalkyl optionally substituted.
The invention relates to the compounds themselves, pharmaceutical compositions containing said compounds and their use in the treatment of depression, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Tourette""s Syndrome, Alzheimer""s Disease and other dementias such as senile dementia, presenile dementia, progressive dementia, dementia of the Parkinson""s type, vascular dementia and Lewy body dementia.
A further aspect of the present invention relates to the use of the compounds of formula I in the treatment of neurotraumatic disorder. As used herein the term xe2x80x9cneurotraumatic disorderxe2x80x9d is meant to include damage caused to the nervous system (both central and peripheral) by virtue of ischemic damage such as that which occurs in stroke, hypoxia or anoxia, neurodegenerative diseases, Parkinson""s Disease, Alzheimer""s Disease, Huntington""s Disease, neurotoxic injury, head trauma injury, spinal trauma injury, peripheral neuropathy or any form of nerve damage.
An additional aspect of the present invention relates to the use of the compounds of formula I in the treatment of memory disorder or depression.
The present invention relates to the racemic compounds themselves and optically active enantiomers thereof.